Catching Time
by lyssy31
Summary: Elizabeth wanted adventure.The calm peacefulness of after the war is unnerving. A series of strange events result in Elizabeth appearing in the time of Tom Marvolo Riddle. To add more to this cauldron of trouble, she may be falling for him! TROC Time Travel. IN PROGRESS
1. Chapter 1: Unnerving Peace

Catching Time

**Summary**: What do you do when you are bored? Go on an ADVENTURE! At least that what Elizabeth "Phoenix" would do. The stress of her modern world and of rebuilding the Wizarding World has finally gotten to her, and she plans to go back to the Marauders time. Anyways, what's a little bit of fun and jokes in company of friends? It's not all fun and jokes when she lands in the wrong time…stuck with a future bloody Dark Lord, and a Prophecy hanging over you. Seventh year is much harder than what they tell you.

**Rating**: T for later chapters…

**Pairings**: TR/OC

**Disclaimer**: I sadly do not own Harry Potter, but I do own Elizabeth, my character!

_**Note from 2012 Revamp**_: I do realize that I've been vastly negligent on this story. For a while, I just simply lost my muse for the story. THEN, I was hit by the slash fandom and swallowed up by it. So there went most of my motivation for strictly het stories. But now I'm back! Out of (somewhat misplaced) loyalty to my readers, I've decided to give it another go (now that I'm a proper uni student).

Please read the new material before going on to the other chapters; even the first chapter has not escaped me!

_STORY OVERHAUL- MAY 2012_

**Chapter one - Unnerving Peace**

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes from tiredness.

She would have to stop these midnight reading marathons. Or else her grades would suffer…and eventually they would revoke her Head Girl status.

And there she went with her negativity that still plagued her from the war.

Another wrenched snore came from next door, the Head Boy, Alex. Formally known as Elizabeth's boyfriend before that idiot set eyes on the bimbo, which _had_ to be blonde, cheated on her.

She remembered that day. It was so painful and heart-wrenching to find _him_ with the wretch in a broom cupboard late one night after dinner. She would have never thought that he would go for that kind of girl. Well, she never would have thought he would have cheated on her.

After getting over her shock, she took away twenty points from Hufflepuff, and almost snarled for the girl to get the hell out of there. This was surprising, since she had never done anything like that.

Elizabeth turned to the trembling, at the time, Prefect. He tried to apologize and give excuses.

One could say that her ex-boyfriend went to the hospital wing. One could also say that she had noticeably shaky hands (due to her recent shock) and couldn't be blamed for _accidentally_ twitching her wand just so, and caused his mostly unconscious person to crash against the entryway of the hospital wing.

And while depositing him rather roughly on a bed, half-way falling off, the girl claimed that "a Slytherin passing by had cursed and jinxed him" to his condition. When, in fact, she had inflicted the boils, rashes, burns, gashes, tentacles, and scratches on his face (caused by flapping bogies) that were her revenge.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so went the common muggle saying. And to this day, he still had the few scars Madam Pomfrey wasn't able to cure or vanish. Elizabeth did take twisted pleasure in staring pointedly at the scars from time to time. It was worth looking at his hated face just to see him squirm in discomfort.

Elizabeth laughed quietly at the memory. _I must really be crazy if I laugh in a deserted room by myself,_ she thought.

She was bored silly with her current life. Nothing was _exciting_, if she put it that way. After years of experiencing the Potter brand of mayhem, as she nicknamed it, normality felt overrated. The Head Girl had become used to living in an era of war, where threats followed her since her own second year and Harry's fourth year.

She had first entered Hogwarts as a transfer from Beauxbatons to enter her second year and was sorted into Gryffindor. Elizabeth soon found friends in her own year, and, surprisingly enough, two years above her, with Neville Longbottom. Elizabeth had crashed into the stocky fourth year in the library's herbology section while looking for a book to help her on her assigned essay. Neville hesitantly offered to help her and they struck up a strong friendship. A strange one though. One that consisted of the rather skinny spectacled second year that was slightly reminiscent of Hermione and the less confident fourth year. And when Neville gathered up his courage, with much prodding from Elizabeth, the highly well-known Golden Trio became the Golden Quintet. As Harry became the main source of suspicion during the first part of the Triwizard Tournament, Elizabeth summoned her legendary stubbornness and stood resolutely with the Fourth Champion.

The rest, they say, was history, as Elizabeth remained with the group through their trials and tribulations.

Umbridge? She was there and often set off dungbombs in class. Not that the toad ever caught her; she was too sneaky for the horrible ministry flunky. The girl wasn't one for explosively causing spectacles in class (as Harry was prone to do). Instead, she stayed in the shadows in nudged a rebellion in her class.

Dumbledore's Army? Elizabeth was one proud member. She gleefully participated in the club due to her particular love for Defense and special hate for the toad.

The Department of Mysteries? Sadly enough, she had witnessed Harry's godfather fall into the veil. However, in the scuffle that followed, Elizabeth was knocked out by a stray spell and woke up in the hospital wing.

Elizabeth thought back to the present and forcefully tried not to think about the years that followed the DOM fiasco.

Routine was fine with her but couldn't she just have a tiny bit of adventure? If she didn't get any soon, would soon suffocate of boredom. And it didn't help that her ex-boyfriend was following her around. Stalking is more like it, what he did to try to apologize. She tiptoed quietly around her bed to her desk and slowly pulled a drawer out.

Elizabeth remembered after that fateful night in January back last year, her 6th year, she had fallen into a depression. Books became her only companion and the rest of her friends, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, who returned after the war to finish their schooling, Ginny, Luna, Ivy, Winter, and Angela, got extremely worried as she became anti-social, and went around Hogwarts with her nose stuck in her book all day.

Well, being around that many books she definitely learned some things that were very handy. In one she learned the spell to make Muggle electronics work in Hogwarts, _Fabrica evigilo. _Sometime after, she found a few spells to make things advance to the way they will be, say, in the next twenty years. Unfortunately, one just made the device yellowed and cracked across the screen with cobwebs around her eyes at the speeded up aging of her muggle electronics, she thought with a tremor, the consequences if a Death Eater tried it on someone.

And that made her think about the Final Battle. Where she had been captured by the Death Eaters and could not escape her bonds to help the fighters. How she had nearly seen Gary, her boyfriend, decapitated by a stray spell. She had seen what damage it did to the Death Eater creeping behind him.

No, she couldn't deny it. She still had feelings for the Head Boy. No matter how many times she had called him names, sneering at his apparently sorrowful nature, the pain grew worse. But she still couldn't just forget how he caused her pain. Elizabeth had to summon up her famous determination and just forget these feelings he caused her-

Elizabeth caught sight of her clock.

"Holy mother of Morgana! I'm going to be so sleepy tomorrow-"

She cut off her rant to herself in realization of the sudden silence next door. The slumbering boy, or not so much boy as he was already seventeen, nearly eighteen, had stopped his snores.

Cursing herself at her inability to be quiet, she placed her muggle electronics in her desk and silently padded toward her bed.

Settling herself in bed, it was nearly half past one in the morning. Elizabeth removed her square glasses and placed them on her nightstand. She pulled the sheets up to her chin and laid her hands on top. It was with moderately blurry vision that she peered around the unusually large room that belonged to her and past Head Girls and then she wished for some excitement.

Then she quickly amended her wish,

_Well not so much…I've got enough!_

Then after arguing with herself in bed, she settled for one thing.

"Well, whoever is out there, god or goddess, I wish for Adventure!" she whispered into the lightening dawn.

||||||||||||||||||||||~End of Chapter one~|||||||||||||||||||

Authors Note (2012): There are some changes to this first chapter. Also added were some NEW plot and important background info. I shudder at how it was before. So, I hope you like the new version.

Over the years, I have realized that my character almost painfully fits the profile of a Mary Sue. I guess nearly any main original character you insert into a story looks like a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. I almost renamed her ex "Gary" but stopped myself.

I've tried to insert more into her character so that she isn't just one-dimensional, super-Mary Sue or something. So hopefully it lives up to your expectations.

Sorry for the short chapter again; I'm following my original outline and the next chapter revamp should be long-ish.

Comments; they feed my muse.

lyssy31


	2. Chapter 2:End of Darkness or is it?

_EDITED MAY 2012_

_CHAPTER ONE WAS ALSO EDITED. GO BACK AND READ THE NEW MATERIAL_

Disclaim Her: Does it really _look_like I own the right to the Harry Potter franchise, industry, etc.? *Mutters* Well _somebody _has been nicking the Firewhiskey from The Three Broomsticks...

_Why live a life_

_That's painted with pity and sadness and strife_

_Why dream a dream_

_That's tainted with trouble and less than it seems_

_Why bother bothering_

_Just for a poem or another sad song to sing_

_Why live a lie_

_-The Art of Suicide "Emilie Autumn"_

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_

**Chapter Two: The End of Darkness & Coming of Light...or is it the other way around?**

Elizabeth woke up on the second of September. Rather, it appeared that she had woken up early against her will. Even with her falling asleep only five hours ago. _And_ her wish for adventure had yet to happen. She had half a mind to simply turn around and go back to sleep, to be welcomed back to the arms of Morpheus [1].

_Stupid old witches tale...Curse that worthless book!_ She ranted angrily in her head. The Head Girl then stretched like a cat and yawned tiredly after her little rant inside her head. Her owl, Athena, watched her owner as she pulled a uniform out of the special wardrobe given to the Head Boy and Girl. The owl preened itself blearily as its owner went into the bathroom and emerged an hour later with her damp hair and adjusting her crimson and gold tie.

She grabbed the Head Girl badge off her desk and pinned it on. Elizabeth looked out to the Head balcony which she shared with the Head Boy. The girl made a disgusted face at the thought of the Head Boy. The day seemed to be lightening and the darkness of night disappearing.

_The end of darkness and the coming of light. Now why does that sound familiar?_She mused, thinking about the war.

The Head Girl grabbed her bag and headed down the few steps that led down to the Heads' Common Room.

_At least the other head is not awake yet, the oaf_. She shuddered at the thought of having to see more of him than necessary.

The girl crossed the generously sized common room and pushed open the frame that hid the entrance to the authority figures' abode. The frame itself was in a very obscure corner of the Gryffindor Tower since both Heads this year were 'lions'. The Head Girl supposed that it changed according to the occupants' houses. It probably moved to a more neutral area if the students were, say, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. She still wondered how Hermione could ever stand sharing a common area with the ferret himself, Draco Malfoy.

This year, however, there was a framed Gryffindor Quidditch banner as the door. She vaguely saw a year on the old banner. 19- She squinted. It was a banner from the year 1948? The numbers were too faded for her to see what year it was. Instead, she focused on lion on the banner. It blinked one eye slowly as she exited the Heads' frame and sleepily flicked its bushy tail at her.

"Au Revior, Monsieur Goliath!" she whispered to the little animated lion. There had been a sudden urge yesterday upon arriving at the entrance hole to nickname the decidedly cute little symbol of Gryffindor House. The Gryffindor Common Room was also deserted like the Heads', though that would be expected.

After all, it was so early in the morning and Hermione was not there, having completed the makeup year of education last year, to feverishly review the new school year's material for the umpteenth time. It was uncharacteristically devoid of balled up pieces of parchment, chocolate frog wrappers, and exploding snap scorch marks on the tables. The fire in the grate seemed to have gone out several hours ago.

Elizabeth took all this in with a sense of nostalgia. It was her last year at Hogwarts and she was going to make the best of it.

As it was only six o'clock, she made the assumption that nearly no one would be at the Great Hall, and decided against going there to munch on toast and review for her Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Levels or NEWT's as they commonly called it. She was in no mood at all to be _studying_ yet.

Elizabeth opened the portrait of the Fat Lady, and the obese painted woman yawned and sleepily asked, "Who goes there?" before snoring loudly again.

_Just little old me,_she replied in her head.

After a small discussion with herself in the deserted hallway, she headed to one of her old haunts. Well, since last year, in January, when she had fallen into depression-

The girl shook her head to rid herself of the thought.

She took her time on the way to the 'Come and Go' Room, as the House Elves called it. She greeted the portraits with a 'good morning'. Amusingly enough, one of the old paintings contested the fact of a good morning with a bitter `_Who said it was good?_' that had her stifling a laugh still.

Upon arriving at the blank stretch of wall, the Head Girl did the customary walk back and forth.

As expected, the door appeared and Elizabeth grasped the handle, swinging the door open. She gasped, for she had much reason to.

Instead of a comfortable, homely area to relax and unwind before beginning the school day, there was a menacing and forbidding aura permeating the air. It had rows and rows of innumerable shelves, but that was not the reason the room bothered her so. On the shelves were shimmering, clear glass orbs. _That _was the reason. It resembled so much the place she had been in her third year.

The Room of Requirement had turned into a replica of the Department of Mysteries!

Where Sirius Black, a man she had grown fond of and thought of him like a playful, yet sorrowful uncle, was torn away from his duty as Harry's godfather. Killed by his dark and evil cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. It had been the first time she had seen death. The other times were not as merciful.

Images flashed behind her eyes and Elizabeth shuddered at the memories. Stepping forward, she wondered at the appearance of the replica.

_Why did this-this-this look-a-like appear? I didn't ask for this!_

Nearly all the spheres were clear, except for one. Through all the clear orbs, she could easily see the lone white, brightly glowing orb. Her curiosity won her out, and she shrugged off her bag to pull out her wand.

Caution led her every step, wrought from the hard and cruel reality of war. No, that carefree girl died four years ago when all the rules began to shatter. As she drew near with the orb, she read:

_C.S.T. to A.P.W.B.D._

_Dark Lord and_

_(?)_

_Elizabeth Phoenix_

It was there, plain as day, in its spidery writing.

||||||||||END||||||CHAPTER||||||TWO||||||||||||||||

Authors Note (May 13 2012): I forgot I had this posted and it wasn't nearly as bad to edit as the last chapter. So now we venture into the new material I haven't posted! I know I said this one would be longer than the last one, but I didn't count on the cliffhanger.

Well, it won't be much of a cliffhanger as I'm typing these all up one after the other.

I hope you enjoyed the revised chapters so far and be sure to post your comments about it!

lyssy31


	3. Chapter 3: A Prophecy Foretells

Catching Time

Edited May 13 2012

_If you have not read the new May 2012 revison of chapters 1 & 2, please do that. You will be confused unless you do so._

**Disclaim Her: **I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would make Pottermore open up The Chamber of Secrets already. My only (dubious) claim to it is my Daniel Radcliffe autograph from How To Succeed In Business.

**Author's Note:** Finally in the new material! Aww yeah. I'm upping the game a whole lot here. Hold on tight. It's about to get complicated. _And here there be mysteries_.

Also, this story is mostly AU (because of the inclusion of Elizabeth) but tends to follow the books closely until after HBP. Some elements of DH might be used but I'm following the outline used before it even came out.

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_Previously:_

Caution led her every step, wrought from the hard and cruel reality of war. No, that carefree girl died four years ago when all the rules began to shatter. As she drew near with the orb, she read:

_C.S.T. to A.P.W.B.D._

_Dark Lord and_

_(?)_

_Elizabeth Phoenix_

It was there, plain as day, in its spidery writing.

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**Chapter Three: A Prophecy Foretells**

"What in Morgana's name-" she gasped in her surprise, using the French version of 'what in Merlin's name' that the British liked to use. The French seemed to have a liking to the sorceress.

Her exclamation echoed all around the room, sounding as if a couple dozen Elizabeths were shouting a garbled mess. In any other situation, she would have laughed and probably had fun with the room. Maybe even having an echoed conversion with herself. But she digressed and knew that prophecies were serious matters.

Why was her name with the darkest tosser of them all? And what was her family's emergency surname doing there on the prophecy?

Nearly all old magical families in France, since the times of old and proven to be a good method since _la revolution francais_, began the practice of creating emergency surnames for the family, in case that they could not use their name in times of war. And that was not the limit of the preparations; the head of the family was also in charge of creating other identities for the members of the family; that included secret estates to hide away on, Gringotts accounts in the alias, and even creating documents to certify the existence of the person (such as ministry exam scores and the like).

Her family had chosen the surname of 'Phoenix' many eons before, to honor the majestic creature of light.

And it was also a coincidence that her animagus was also a Phoenix too!

Elizabeth peered closer at the sphere and saw herself reflected in it. Modern frames accompanied square glasses that covered her wide, deep brown eyes. Her hair was visibly curly and untamed. Light skin that had a healthy glow from playing quidditch outside with Ginny and Angela and Harry and Ron occasionally.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the orb.

What should she do? Try to hear the prophecy? It sounded like a good idea… but what if it foretold tales of death and danger? And yet she was a Gryffindor and she couldn't resist the curiosity burning within her being.

But how does one go about listening to a prophecy?

Harry had told her about hearing the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries but even though she had gone to the department with the others in the DA, she had been knocked out in the dueling and never saw how Harry was able to hear it.

Does one smash it? Touch the orb? Tap it with a wand?

Well, the last thing she would try would be to smash it. Even though the Room of Requirement wasn't the Department of Mysteries, the first thing she would do wouldn't be to possibly destroy it.

Elizabeth looked around the place nervously and then warily tapped the glass orb with her wand.

It made a ringing sound that also echoed through the air.

…

Nothing happened.

"Damn it," she cursed.

She grabbed the glass sphere with careful hands and set it on the floor between the shelves. Elizabeth steadied her resolve and pointed her wand at the prophecy.

"_Reducto!"_

The Head Girl gently eased her magic into the spell. She only wanted the orb to slowly crack and break. Most definitely not explode into many pieces and cover her in glass shrapnel. A tiny fissure began to appear on the glass, and distorted the swirling mist inside. It spread into little inteconnecting lines until…

_Crack!_

The prophecy lay in pieces on the floor. Just when Elizabeth nearly gave it up as a failure, the mist from the orb swirled into a figure, which had eccentric and old fashioned robes and thick glasses. The woman reminded Elizabeth of someone she knew but…

She made the connection immediately. The Seer resembled Professor Trelawney! The initials on the prophecy must stand for Cassandra Trelawney, the celebrated Seer.

Elizabeth's mouth twitched into a grin. The Trelawney's fashion sense certainly hadn't improved at all through the years. The bat must have taken lessons from her ancestor.

And judging from the style and cut of her robes, the prophecy must have been made a century or less ago.

The Seer hovered higher over the shards of the shattered orb and began to speak in a hoarse voice.

"The one…the one that can never …die…shall triumph…

as ha' century…departs…the dark…

the dark one…shall..be…ne'…. more… and the one…

will…return…transformed…for the good

…or for dark…the one that can never die…"

The Seer gave one last rasping breath and disintegrated back into the shards.

Elizabeth, shocked as she was, did not notice the remains of the Prophecy glow blue. Nor did she notice the silver and glass contraption in one of her bag's pockets. Or the clear, unusually flat stone also inside her bag.

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Elizabeth walked in a daze to the Great Hall.

Why her? Why did there have to even be a prophecy in existence? All prophecies did was to ruin wizards' and witches' lives. Just look at Harry, and the whole sodding Wizarding World as well too. Simply because one man took a prophecy too literally without thinking it out, the whole British Wizarding World (and even some of the French, Bulgarian, and American ministries) went through two brutal wars.

She was even kidnapped and her parents- _No! _She would not think of that!

She couldn't even think about her own abduction because it reminded her too much of the events that led up to the Final Battle of the war.

"Get out of my head!" she muttered distressedly and a second year Hufflepuff looked at her oddly.

"Well? What are you doing there? Carry on" she snapped and the alarmed second year scurried away.

Elizabeth entered the Great Hall, which was slowly filling up. She made a beeline to the middle of the Gryffindor table, where her friend, Angela Bennett, was sitting.

Angela was a nice, quiet girl who was a Prefect in their year and also Elizabeth's close friend.

"Bonjour Angela!" greeted Elizabeth as she sat next to her friend. She needed _someone_ sane after what happened. Ominous prophecy hanging over her head and whatnot.

"You came in rather late than usual" Angela responded.

Elizabeth cowered under her friend's expectant gaze. _I should have known that Angela would notice that something's off with me. Perceptive, that one is!_

Instead of answering like her fellow Gryffindor expected, she reached for a slice of toast and busied herself with starting her breakfast. She knew she was delaying the inevitable but, hey, a girl's gotta eat.

Nibbling a piece of toast, she found Angela waiting patiently for an answer.

_Woah now, this prophecy business is rather…sensitive. I'd better wait to tell her later. Some place that's not the Great Hall of nosey parkers._

"Oh, um-I just slept later than usual" she said unconvincingly. Angela fixed her an unimpressed glare at her attempt to hide the truth.

Elizabeth tried to communicate her intentions with a lot of eye widening and head nodding.

Angela looked a bit confused but seemed to get the gist of it. Elizabeth steered the conversation to something more mundane.

"So, what do you think we will have today?"

Ever the more observant one, Angela craned her neck around and responded, "Look, the professors are distributing the times tables. I guess you'll get your answer soon enough."

"Hmm. So they are!" said Elizabeth and the duo fell into companiable silence while waiting for their schedules.

Slowly emerging from the shock of the morning and settling into a mindset necessary for classes, Elizabeth realized something was missing. Or rather, _two_ somethings.

"Hey! Where's Ivy and Winter? They're usually here by now," Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I don't know. Those twins might be up to something, though,"said Angela.

Elizabeth made a peeved face. She really hoped that nothing bad had happened to the mischievous twins. There had been enough of strange happenings to go around for that day.

She soon wiped that expression off as their Head of House neared them.

After the war (and Dumbledore's death), Professor McGonagall, as Deputy Headmistress, had ascended and became the Headmistress of Hogwarts. So then it had become necessary to appoint various new teachers to fill spots. Since Professor Slughorn decided to go back into his cushy retirement _not_ on the run from Death Eaters, the recently cleared Snape took the vacated post. He had barely survived an attack from Voldemort's snake, Nagini, during the Battle of Hogwarts and had been vouched for by Harry, surprisingly. Professor Witherspun filled McGonagall's spot as professor of Transfiguration. And, much to Snape's immediate dislike, Matthew Matthews became the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

It was Professor Matthews, the new Gryffindor Head of House, that gave them both nods of acknowledgement while sending their schedules flying to their hands.

Elizabeth immediately looked at the schedule, searching for the column that held Wednesday's classes (as that day was a Wednesday). It seemed like a very relaxing day to start off with; she had a free period first thing. Then after that free period was double Divinations class. A break for lunch and yet another free period afterwards. Then it was off to Potions and, after that, Charms.

Elizabeth felt a grin threatening to engulf her face start to edge its way on her face.

Angela asked her "What do you have first?" and then without waiting for any answer, kept on going rapidly, "I have Arithmacy! Any other day, I'd jump for joy and click my heels but I've got this dreadful headache."

"You should go to the hospital wing and get that looked at," advised Elizabeth. And then almost as an afterthought, responded to the first question casually, "Oh. I don't have much. I just get to go check out the new additions to the library because of my _free period_."

"Ooh, lucky you! I get to suffer through class," said Angela enviously.

"Ah, well go play with your little wards, Angela," quipped Elizabeth in a jokingly dismissive manner.

"Hey!" her friend interjected in mock anger. The both grinned at each other and noticed the Hall was emptying rapidly for their first classes.

Elizabeth polished off her third slice of toast and gulped her orange juice quickly. Angela packed up the arithmacy book she had been reading while waiting for Elizabeth and got up to leave.

The Head Girl waited until her friend was a good distance away before yelling loudly, "You'd better get that checked out!"

Everyone remaining, and even some mostly out the door, turned to stare at the yelling girl and the object of her discussion, perhaps thinking Angela had an embarassing affliction. Angela sent her a dirty look and went on her way to class.

Elizabeth finished eating at a leisurely pace and with a pleased demeanor. She grinned to herself at the spectacle she had caused and the students' interest in what she told Angela to get checked out.

Then the smile slid off her face as she remembered the prophecy hanging over her. She realized that, in reality, she knew the bare minimum about prophecies. She resolved to research all she could about the little known magical objects in the free period she had now until Divination.

The Head Girl stood from her seat, grabbed her book bag, and ran to the library.

_I have to find out more about prophecies, _the determined girl thought.

|||||||||||||||||||~END OF CH. 3~||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

**Author's Note: **I thought about continuing this chapter but I think the next parts would flow better together. Anyways, I couldn't leave you guys on a cliffhanger like last time again! I hope you like the new stuff; its been a long time coming.

AND ITS 2000 WORDS LONG XD… So maybe it makes up for it? Slightly? Just a tiny bit?

Also, the dates are also researched: September 1st 1998 was a Tuesday, and so the date that this chapter occurs in is a Wednesday. Hehe. I bet you didn't expect me to check it out. ;)

I also did that for the past too. So expect my compulsion for dates to occur there as 're heading up to the grand departure you guise! The next chapter should have Elizabeth leaving the present time (and I hope to have it up today, depending on my typing speed & how fast I might get bothered from constant fic working).

lyssy31


	4. Chapter 4: Whirlwind research

Catching Time**  
Disclaim Her:**Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter. Otherwise, the books would have differed greatly in book four. *cue Hiddleston laugh* Ehehehe.

**Author's Note: **I ran out of my mostly edited pre-written chapters, so I spent a while trying to change some parts of this.  
I'd also like to thank the several story & favorite alerts I received from readers! I was starting to wonder whether anyone was reading this and was even just considering not posting any more. But you guys gave me the motivation to get this chapter out! :D

I know I had promised on my last chapter that this would be out the next day. . Well, a lot of changes recently happened this past summer and year. And with that came the reduction of visible time on the computer. So I have not had many large time blocks to type this out... I actually had to type out most of this on my phone, and email it to myself so that I could upload it quickly.

Alternately, I had to make up excuses to use the computer and often found myself vidding rather than fic-working. I lead an alternate life of a fangirl as a YouTube vidder. I make fan videos in several fandoms; including Sherlock BBC, The Dark Knight Rises, and (most recently) Avengers. Apparently, they really loved my new Loki/Tony Stark videos and I got caught up in making some more. It gets addictive.  
_So, I'm sorry_ I sometimes put vidding ahead of this fic. Not to mention the multiple plot bunnies that held me captive several times. I, uh, got really inspired by the Avengers and started writing/planning a fic. AND then another plot hit me over the head for a Sherlock Holmes 2009/Thor movie fic. And then after I wrote a couple of scenes for that, got hit by another short possible ficlet for Harry Potter. And then, another Harry Potter fic that I thought up during finals in May, begged me to write more for it, so I planned that one out.  
Strangely enough, none of my plans include a main character OC, quite possibly because I have learned to feel more confident or assured that I wouldn't screw up characterizations. Or maybe, my many years of fanfic reading has rubbed off on me. Maybe this story has been a bit of a warmup, years in the making, to prepare me and flex my writing/author skills...

Anyways, back to Catching Time stuff.  
I was rereading the other chapters and caught a few typos (maybe 1 or 2). I get really meticulous about that, but I guess the keyboard was wonky. Or maybe a sign I should try to get a beta?  
So.. calling out any betas interested in helping me out with possibly this story and most likely the jumble of upcoming Avengers (including events from Iron Man/Thor/Captain America), Sherlock Holmes 2009, Sherlock BBC, and Harry Potter (mostly slash) fanfics?

Umm, yep that's it.

On to the story:  
The story really gets moving on this chapter; it's like a rollercoaster heading towards the bottom. Er, maybe that's the wrong analogy but you get the idea right? Everything before this was just setting the scene, only to have it completely change in chapter 5. This is just leading up to it. Enjoy the ride.

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**Chapter Four: Whirlwind research**

Elizabeth arrived at the library slightly out of breath, having run from the Great Hall to the library. As it was the first day back from summer holiday, the library had few students within its hushed walls. She passed by the librarian's desk with greatly reduced speed, wary of Pince's wrath. Then she felt a glare burning into her and she saw the great bird of prey herself.

Madam Pince eyed her distrustfully as if expecting her to go on a book burning rampage. Just because of that one incident with the Weasley twins in their seventh year, her third year, she was painted with the same black brush. The Head Girl sniffed, slightly insulted by the librarian's continuing grudge. She carried on past the gimlet gaze of the vulture-like witch at her desk and began looking for the correct section to start her search in.

The front of the library held the most popularly used sections such as newer editions of books for Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions. Others, decidedly more ancient and obscure, were removed from the high traffic areas and resided deep within the depths of the library. Quite close to the Restricted Section, in fact.

As she passed more and more shelves, the aisles progressively became more and more disorganized and haphazard; as if someone had not been by to maintain them in a while. The shelves towered over her rather ominously and the windows appeared to not let in as much light. Finally, Elizabeth read a tarnished gold label on the shelf that read _Divination/Other._

Obviously the Wizarding World was not ruled by logic. Oh no, that would make things a little too easy for everyone.  
The witch took several promising tomes and made her way to a dusty table nearby. As she dropped them on the table, dust went flying and she inhaled some, causing her to sneeze loudly in the dead silent library.

_Well, it looks like I've got my work cut out for me. I'd better get started before my free period ends…_

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As she looked through yet another dry book about divination, Elizabeth realized she was no closer to finding out more about prophecies as Harry was to finding his inner coward. She had gone through a great pile of large books without any real results. A shocking majority of the dusty divination books read as if their author were not presently in their rational mind.

She felt a rising sense of frustration starting to build up inside her and angrily waved her wand for the books to return where they belonged. Had most of the authors been drunk off their heads? she wondered spitefully. There was absolutely nothing she found besides total rubbish.

_That's it_, she thought angrily, fed up with her progress.

And then strode purposefully towards the very back of the library. Ignoring the sign, her step quickened into a run for the entrance and, with a flying leap, she vaulted over the velvet rope separating the Restricted Section from the rest of the library. She sped through the aisles of the forbidden section. Immediately,she began reading the spines, knowing she did not have much time until the 'vulture' made her rounds.  
Elizabeth saw that dreadful book that Hermione had told her about; the one where it 'dared not speak' of Horcruxes. And then spied many a blood drenched tome chained to the shelf. She shuddered to think about what it might have done to make it necessary for it to remain imprisoned there.  
And then-  
Elizabeth detected a slim,silver volume tucked on top of the shelved books. It wasn't even shelved properly. Almost as if someone had left it there and had not bothered to put it back in its proper place. She imagined a shadowy figure,standing right where she was right now, perhaps centuries ago, movements frantic and being fearful of discovery, and sticking the book there, out of place as it was.

She examined the book carefully and did not find the title of the book. Nor an author or other identifying characteristics.

_Strange..._she thought.  
It was with a wary hand that she flipped to the contents of the book. One could never be careful enough; the books in the Restricted Section were infamous for causing violent ends to the disturbers of their rather dubious peace. She turned many blank pages until she came to a page with a single word on it: FUTURE.  
Elizabeth felt a strange crawling sensation run up her spine. She became strangely disturbed by the seemingly innocuous occurrence. Who would print a book with so many blank pages at its inception? And then after so many pages, might place just a single word on a page? With no clear reason?  
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

And why had she seen it so quickly? Usually research took hours, but how was it that she was able to find a book that held possibly all the answers to her questions.  
Her suspicions rose even higher. This occurrence was highly suspicious. There was definitely something going on beyond her understanding.

Something big. And she was just caught in the circumstances; just barely catching a glimpse.

Just realizing that something was driving her to some point, some unknown purpose.

And this, the book in her path, was the first move; like in some real world game of chess. And she was a pawn in the game. The piece sent forward to do the bidding without even knowing. But now she knew. All because of the prophecy. Which opened her eyes to things she would normally overlook. And she was going to try her damnedest to stay a step ahead when she could. She was brought out of her resolute musings by the strange shuffling noise of someone passing by. The witch looked around with wide eyes, the fear of being caught running through her.

When she determined that it was just another student passing by, Elizabeth turned the page of the book that had caused her to wander into such thoughts. The next page had a single heading as the name of the first chapter. And it was named as such: "Prophecies".

Her brow creased in consternation. Another puzzling occurrence to add to her already strange day. And with that, she was another step behind who or what, exactly, had made such machinations.

Aware of how little time she had remaining, she read on in the chapter:

_Prophecies are rather fickle predictions. They have been told for eons upon eons and perhaps since the beginning of time itself. And with the creation of prophecies came the need for those to tell them to the masses. Thus Seers were born with their mystical powers of having the ability to speak of the future. They were held (by those untouched by the forces) to be blessed by the Gods, as one Norse text proclaims. That was a time of unexplained occurrences and unsolved mysteries that were taken to be something not quite normal, but something awe-inspiring, nothing resembling anything negative. However, this period of harmony was not to remain._

_As the times changed, so did the common people's (muggles) perception of these Seers. The witches and wizards serving as a conduit for Fate's voice were no longer seen as great phenomenons. Or even as blessed ones. Common people began to hunt down and persecute Seers for their , as their gifts were brought on by Seeing the Future, these witches and Wizards could not control the onset of a prophecy, and were especially vulnerable at that time, which led to increasing numbers of capture (and later, disposal) of Seers as compared to regular witches and most popular method of disposal of Seers in the medieval times was, of course, the burning at the stake. Non-magicals also appeared to favor this method with regular, non-Seer, magical persons. One often remembers the 'sugar-coated' versions of this time in Magical history. Stories of eccentric witches and wizards allowing themselves to be caught (such as Wendelin the Weird) were promulgated throughout the Wizarding public. These almost-children's tales seemed to imply that such widespread persecution was merely ineffectual because of magic like the Flame-Freezing charm. Not so. In fact, these accounts seem to gloss over the fact that when one was captured as an accused practitioner of 'witchcraft', one was almost certainly relieved of everything in their possession. Witches and Wizards' useful magical objects and relics that could have been used to save their life, were in the hands of their captors and thus useless. Their wand? Equally useless and away from their person, leaving the wizard helpless to the torture of the Muggles. However, some wizards and witches had been brought up more traditionally and had the ability to use wand-less magic. Of course, this was usually limited to small charms and hexes, depending on their power level and strength. It was only the wandless magic using Magicals and lucky few who had managed to keep their wand (and not have it react badly to the bonfire, as wands in that time were not so finely crafted) and escape on their own. The unlucky majority was subjected to a grisly end. Other methods were employed for the disposal of captured witches and wizards, such as gibbeting (where the victim was put in a cage and then suspended above ground to die of thirst), and (specifically used on wizards, as they viewed this to be indecent for witches) being hanged, drawn and quartered. Throughout the ages, thecommon people have pursued things of which they do not know of and thus fearthem._

_This brings the subject back to that of prophecies. As stated before, these powerful magical objects, once in physical orb form, are difficult subjects and objects to study. They tend to be susceptible to change and often become invalid. Some prophecies, even, are not this occurs when not all of the conditions are met exactly as stated within the words of the prophecy._

_The largest inventory of prophecies in Magical Britain is located within the British Ministry of Magic in London. Secreted inthe undisclosed Department of Ministries is the famed Hall of Prophecies. This is, of course, not officially confirmed by the ministry. Trusted sources have been pieced together to form a possible explanation and perhaps a picture of the truth._

_The only witches and wizards who may know of these truths are those specially selected to work on secret projects of the Ministry. They are also known as Unspeakables. Their title stems from the thought that they cannot speak of what activities or jobs they undertake in the depths of the Department of Mysteries, a possible side effect of an Unbreakable Vow or out of fear of some horror witnessed._

_The Department of Mysteries is the site where it is said they study powerful, unrestrained forces and other unknown remarkable forces, should they fall to the wrong hands, have the capability to destroy the Wizarding World._

_A source in the Hall of Prophecies reported that if a witch or wizard that is not involved in a prophecy (by way of who it was told to, or is about) were to touch it, a horrible fate awaits them. Only those that made the prophecy (Seers), were those present during its telling, or are those spoken about in the prophecy can bear the presence of the magical artifact without fear of negative consequences._

_Even the Unspeakables who appear to work closely with the prophecies cannot touch the relics without great costs. There are manyreports of "unspecified" Ministry employees' having long term staysat London's St. Mungo's Hospital For Magical Maladies and Injuries for"classified" reasons and the Healers treating them sworn to there for months in the long-term spell damage Janus Thickey Ward,they suddenly check out and are never seen again. Further probes of investigation into this matter return nothing. It is a mystery probably as shrouded in as much speculation as the department itself._

_Some say that the Head of the Unspeakables coerces their less favored members into touching the prophecies, an unethical attempt at experimentation. Others dispute that the Unspeakables use theiraddled former member to test the veil in the Death Chamber. Sending themthrough the veil might explain the lack of bodies. And more gruesome theories suggest that the workers use their damaged coworker in experimenting with human remains in the use of potions and such._

_Speculation aside, what many sources proclaim that is the true work of the Unspeakables assigned to the Hall of Prophecies is simply that of pure observation. Unspeakables document when a new prophecy is made and any other details about it. They also note when there is any change in the prophecy orb, such as the orb shattering or changing colours. Typically, when a prophecy undergoes a reaction, it may mean that some event pertinent to the prophecy has occurred. Previous observations have, so far, proven that if aprophecy glows, it may well be on its path to becoming fulfilled. The colour of the glow indicates-"_

Elizabeth read no more as the bell rang and startled her into dropping the book on the floor. It fell with a mutedthump at the base of the shelf. However, she did not pick it up; more pressing things were foremost in her mind. She realized that she had only a short period of time to get to the North Tower for Divination and grabbed her book bag, and, in that same instant, pushed the silver book under the shelf unknowingly. She ran out of the RestrictedSection in a hurry to get to her next class.

Unbeknownst to her, the silver booklay open and forgotten on the floor under the shelf. The paragraph she had been about to read as so:

_"The colour of the glow indicates several details. This depends on one's interpretation of the color of the glow emitted by the prophecy. As one poet-Seer wrote in 1895 to explain the affair:_

_~White to indicate it has begun_

_Blue to get ready_

_Green to go_

_Yellow to guide you_

_Through the snow_

_Orange to warn you_

_That over you'll go_

_Then Red will be the Final_

_Now seek the Black_

_There's no going back. [1]~_

_Experts have interpreted this to mean that these colours indicate in which step to fulfillment the prophecy is currently in. The Darker the prophecy becomes; the closer it is to its completion._

_However, this occurrence is only experienced first-hand and,until recently, could not be viewed any other way. Sources say that in 1925, ayoung Unspeakable attempted to manipulate a prophecy into recording its reactions. Unfortunately, the magics of Fate cannot be controlled in this way and did not take kindly to the force used. Thus, the efforts expended to change the prophecy backfired on the Unspeakable and the worker was hospitalised at St Bart's Hospital (the precedent to St. Mungo's) in London, where he later died from complications of his injuries sustained from the prophecy blast._

_And yet his attempt was not one without any enough, he did cause prophecies to give an external signal of their progress, but not quite in the method the Unspeakable had desired. However, it was not of much use to the Department of Mysteries, as it alerted one of the individuals mentioned in the prophecy to the evolvement of the prophecy. A stone would appear at random (or so it seemed) to one of the witches or wizards involved with the prophecy._

_The stone that participants might receive was named simply as the 'Prophecy Stone'. Characterized by a rather flat surface, the stone isembossed with a rather stylized letter 'P'. Initially, the stone appeared clearand later changed colors in accordance to the prophecy._

_However, what makes this occurrence difficult to predict is the fact that the Prophecy Stone, due to the unstable nature of its creation in an accident, tends to appear sporadically. Not all prophecies on their paths to fulfillment will merit the appearance of the stone. At the time of this publication, Prophecy Stones have only been sighted three times since the mishap of the young Unspeakable, and have not been seen in forty years._

Elizabeth arrived at the North Tower quite out of breath, having run all the way from the library. Due to her haste, she was there a couple of minutes before the bell was to signal the beginning of class. As she climbed up the ladder, she inhaled the strong perfume from about and around the Divination classroom and began to cough.

Angela, who had arrived before her and was sitting on a pouf, came over to the trapdoor to help her friend up. Elizabeth thanked her wheezily. They rejoined Angela's chosen table and got their class materials out. Elizabeth tapped the cover of their required text, _The Tracing of Fate_, absentmindedly to unshrink it from its more easily transported form. Then she remembered what she had wanted to ask her fellow Gryffindor.

"Oh!" the witch exclaimed and when several classmates' heads turned to look around curiously, lowered her voice to a hushed tone, "Did you get checked out in the Infirmary?"

"Yeah, I did-" began Angela, but then Professor Trelawney chose that time to speak.

"Welcome, my children, to your first N.E.W.T. Divination class," Trelawney began, misty as ever. Then the professor continued in a rather floating tone, "Though I know not why these tests exist...The all-Seeing eye does not conform to the demands of an instition...it comes and goes as it pleases to those gifted with it..."

The Professor drifted off and ended her speech looking out the window, staring out to the Forbidden Forest just seen past the Quidditch Pitch. Her students shot incredulous looks at each other, while the more devoted ones simply leaned forward in their poufs, eager to find out what she was looking at, or curious to see if she was experiencing a vision. Professor Trelawney tore her gaze from the window and cast it on her students.

Suddenly, as if just noticing Elizabeth was there, Professor Trelawney gave a great start and her eyes shot open to previously unreached levels of bugged out.

"You," Professor Trelawney raised a shaking hand to point at Elizabeth, "Your aura is disturbed and fading...You have a touch of... destiny," she whispered hoarsely.

_...What?_

Elizabeth felt a deep worry begin to settle in her mind. Her stomach sank as she processed possible meanings of the statement. The truth and severity of her current situation began to truly sink in her head. She began to brood over the fate that was thrown at her and barely had her mind on the present, much less what Trelawney was spouting next.

She, Elizabeth Phoenix, Hogwarts Head Girl, Gryffindor, and survivor of the War (astonishing, considering just how close she had been to the front lines), was the subject of a bloody prophecy involving the Dark Tosser, who was the defeated party in a standoff between Harry and Voldemort that ended the War. How was it even possible? The psycho was long dead! And Harry made sure he couldn't return.

Unless... maybe he found some other method of immortality. Elizabeth felt pure fear run down her spine and her hair raised on her arms and the back of her neck, goosebumps taking form as well. She could imagine the dark times of the War returning and the third wave of the Dark Lord spreading like a poison through the community. And more unimaginable, unconceivable horrors could be awaiting those that fought back and survived. The Dark Lord would return more powerful and merciless than before...

Panic threatened to overwhelm her and she swallowed painfully, urging herself not to relapse into a panic attack, which had plagued her ever since... her parents had been murdered by the Dark Lord. Elizabeth breathed slowly in and out, attempting to stave off the panic. A memory came unbidden at her thoughts on the subject:

_"The dark one... shall... be... ne' ...more..." echoed around the Room of Requirement._

But the prophecy had never said specifically Voldemort or even the Dark Lord! It could have been refering to any number of people! From a person who practiced Dark magic, to a witch or wizard with dark hair, it could be anyone. Well, that much she hoped. Because she hoped there wasn't an upcoming novice Dark Lord ready to take Voldemort's place.

Angela shot her a look, miffed at her continuing inattention, and Elizabeth guiltily turned her thoughts to the class, hearing the end of Trelawney's spiel.

"- Broaden your minds to the future!" Professor Trelawney cried, opening her arms for more emphasis and causing a great bit of jangling to be heard from her various necklaces in the process. "If you should need more guidance, consult The Tracing of the Fates!Though I know many of you may need other types of guidance for the next months..." Trelawney concluded mistily and perched herself on her chair in the front.

Elizabeth stared incomprehendingly at her professor. What were their instructions? She didn't want to raise her hand and ask, because that might set off another prediction, but also because she was the Head Girl. What kind of example would she be setting for the students?

Thankfully, Angela saved her from that fate.

"Come on, Elizabeth, where were you when she told us what to do?" Angela chided,"Head in the clouds again?"

Elizabeth mumbled something noncommital. Angela's gaze softened as she realized Trelawney bothered her friend with her prediction.

"Oh, well, I know sometimes that woman's predictions scare the hell out of me too. Don't worry about it. It'll probably turn out to be something stupid, right?" Angela said earnestly.

Elizabeth didn't have the heart nor the courage to tell Angela that her problem was a lot bigger than a silly prediction. "Yeah," she mumbled half-heartedly, " _'_s probably nothing..."

Angela smiled reassuringly at her and then got to business. "Today we're starting palmistry, remember?" said Angela.

Clarity suddenly came to her. Elizabeth remembered the Divination book she had skimmed through over the summer.

"Oh, right. I remember. The first couple of chapters in the book, right? It's more in depth than that pithy bit we got in third year." Elizabeth responded knowingly.

"Yes, we actually get to practice it today," confirmed Angela. They opened their books and scanned the chapters relating to palmistry. They fell into a companionable silence.

_Not a bad first class_, thought Elizabeth while studying a diagram in the book. _Well, besides that prediction from the bat..._

Just then, Angela proclaimed that she was ready for Elizabeth to give a try at reading her hand. Elizabeth had some problems distinguishing the differences between the line of fate and life, but was able to get a nod from Professor Trelawney when she passed by their table. After that was Elizabeth's turn at having her palm read by Angela. She peered at the lines on her friend's palm. Angela's brow creased faintly. Then she looked down at her book to see the a picture of the palm. And then gazed back at Elizabeth's hand perplexedly.

"Well that can't be right. Your love line looks all messed up!" Angela finally let out after examining Elizabeth's hand. "It's simply not possible for your line to -"

The bell signalling the end of classes rang and Angela was cut off mid-sentence by the din that their classmates made as they rushed down and out the trapdoor.

Professor Trelawney called out after their retreating backs, "Until next time my children!"

Elizabeth shook her head and told Angela, "Forget it. It's probably not important." And they left the overheated room hurriedly, not wanted to stay any longer with the old bat.

As the duo's footsteps receded away, Professor Trelawney woke from her ever-present stupor.

"Ah, my dear child. I fear you are quite wrong about that." 

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[1]: From the Septimus Heap series, quote taken specifically from "Queste".

**A/N:Apologies for any formatting errors in this chapter, ff was being weird. **

Phew. I've been holding on to this since September or so, actually. I had hoped that I could get to my desired stopping point but I decided I should post a shorter chappie sooner rather than longer chapter a lot later. This chapter was going to originally end on a big cliffhanger but I lost some of my notes and decided to post it now. I may be putting this story on a backburner because of the fact that its an OC story. But I do not intend to abandon it.

But while you're waiting, I will post some Avengers fic soon if any of you guys would like to check it out. Or try some of my lengthy list of favorites on my profile.

Until next time,

lyssy31


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